The most important meal of the day is breakfast. If you ever had reason to doubt this fact, consider the article published in Diabetes Care that finds daily breakfast intake is strongly associated with reduced risk of a spectrum of metabolic conditions.

Researchers set out to examine the relationship between breakfast intake frequency with incidence of metabolic conditions. Sunny-side up or rise and shine, it’s clearly a good morning if you start your day with breakfast.

In the study, over 3,500 people, without diabetes, were assessed for their breakfast and dietary habits between the years of 1992–1993 and participated in at least one of the five follow-up examinations over 18 years.

Of the participants, infrequent breakfast consumption was counted as having breakfast between 0-3 days per week. People who ate breakfast between 4-6 days per week and daily had less incidence of abdominal obesity, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension remained. Participants who reported eating breakfast daily gained less weight over 18 years.

You don’t need a study to confirm that if you don’t eat breakfast, your body is essentially running on empty. Unless you eat in your sleep, your body has been fasting the night before. You need to feed your body so that you do not starve yourself. Furthermore, if you don’t fill the tank before you start your day, the likelihood of erratic eating or overeating during the day is higher.

Don’t start your day off on the wrong foot. Grab a bite before you start your day and you’ll likely keep your metabolism on point.